Red Room
by Cats070911
Summary: A fluffy plotless piece where Tommy and Barbara are sent on a course that bores them allowing them to think about more important things.


**Author's note:** All usual disclaimers apply.

Is there a point in time when someone falls in love? A moment where the attraction to another mind, body and spirit passes beyond desire and becomes essential to live? A juncture where the easy rapport of a friend turns into the nervous tension of a lover? Or is it just that there is a split second when you recognise what deep inside you already knew?

Tommy Lynley had no idea which it was but sitting in the cramped room with its hideous red vinyl chairs and mismatched red walls he knew undisputedly that he was in love with his sergeant, Barbara Havers. In the sixty or so square feet of the room they had used as their workspace during this stupefying dull course Tommy had considered his feelings from every angle. No matter how he viewed it, he was unmistakably besotted with this gloriously infuriating woman.

Modern Detection was a course that all the Met detectives were being cycled through with the aim of increasing the clear up rate. Both Lynley and Havers had been mildly insulted given they had the best rate across the force and had avoided the inevitable as long as possible. This week had, superficially, been a waste. There was a series of lectures each morning then the twenty participants had been split into their usual partnerships and given clues to solve the case. For the next four hours Tommy and Barbara had been locked in this red prison, crowded around the small table trying to solve the crime. On average it had taken them less than two hours to solve and write it up. Now on this final day Barbara was just drawing the escape route on the map and they would be finished. It was a record, they had figured this one out in less than half an hour. Now they had to sit in the room until four o'clock when everyone would be called back to the main room to listen to nine other boring debriefs about how the teams had solved the crimes. There were three teams who had not solved any of the crimes but most had solved one or two. Tommy and Barbara had solved all four but had been chastised on Day 1 for not using the new techniques they had been taught. Nothing replaced instinct as far as Tommy was concerned but they had dutifully worked it out each day then figured out how to present it as if they had benefited from the course. Barbara had been annoyed at the pretense but Tommy understood the need to play the game.

Now he was huddled close to Barbara as she focused on drawing an accurate path. The four small down lights that clung precariously to the square metal frame four foot above their heads created a puddle of dull light only on the table. Tommy sat in the shadow and watched her intently contemplating if he should ask her to dinner tonight. "What?" she asked conscious of his stare.

Playfully he flicked the top of her pen with his own. "Nothing." The time was not right. He should let her draw her lines first.

Barbara resumed her work grateful that tonight they could escape and drive back to London. It was not as if she had not enjoyed being in Canterbury with Tommy but the course had bored her senseless. The only highlights had been the afternoons alone when they had talked while they waited for the evening debriefs and quick drink at the bar before retiring to their rooms. She could not name it but there had been something about being confined in a dimly lit room with garish red furniture that had made conversation easy and frank. Tommy had opened up a lot about how he had felt after Helen died; about his guilt, his helplessness, his loneliness and his drinking. Barbara had told him how hurt she had been that he had shut her out but his answer had puzzled her.

"I had to avoid you," he had told her cryptically, "otherwise it wouldn't have been fair to Helen."

Tommy then skillfully changed the subject and they both knew that was the last they would speak of it. Barbara looked up at him before she drew the last part of the route. Tommy had been watching her but now he was staring out of the glass panel at the top of the only wall with any natural light. He seemed more relaxed, as if he had come to terms with himself. She was happy. It was good that the week had not been completely futile.

Tommy watched a wispy cloud saunter across the sky. If life needed clouds it was much better to have carefree white ones than the foreboding grey ones that had followed him for most of the last eighteen months since Helen's death. Although, to be fair, they had lightened and decreased significantly in the nine months since the Thompson case when sitting watching those horrid tapes with Barbara and seeing her reaction he had first realised that she meant more to him than a police partner or even a friend. She was hurting and he wanted to comfort her because she was his life; his entire reason for existing. Yet he had still not called it love, not in the sense of being in love with her. It had felt more noble, more spiritual and it had sustained him.

This week that had shifted; slowly, almost imperceptibly but steadily until he had realised this afternoon exactly how strongly he felt. It had started innocently. They had been crowded opposite each other at the table to solve that first case when their knees had accidentally touched. Both of them had quickly swung their legs away and Tommy knew Barbara's blush was mirrored in his own embarrassed look. Tommy had reflected why they had reacted that way. It could easily happen and it should not matter in the slightest but it had, to both of them. When Tommy had looked in her bright green eyes he had seen, fleetingly, a blurring of the line between friendship and desire.

Barbara had tried hard to hide the thrill that pulsed through her when they had touched but she knew he had seen her guilty pleasure. Once breached a dam is hard to repair and as they stayed in the room that afternoon talking more and more of her protective wall collapsed under the weight of repressed emotions. Barbara had inched her leg closer to Tommy's. She could almost feel the heat from him as she slowly moved to just brush his with the lightest of touches. She had moved it away two or three times but gradually let it swing back. The last time she let it rest there with just the tips of their knees kissing.

Tommy did not know if Barbara had deliberately tried to make contact under the table or if after their first encounter it had simply been a lack of leg room. Her face had been impassive and she was clearly focused on their conversation. He did not move away. He enjoyed the connection that seemed much more than physical. He did not know if she was asking a question or sending a message but either way his answer was 'yes'.

The next day Tommy sat next to Barbara. It was more convenient to look at the crime scene photographs but more importantly it was easier to rest his leg against hers. Through his jeans he could feel the warmth of her leg from his thigh to his calf. She made no acknowledgement of his gesture nor did she move away. Neither pressed; their legs simply rested together as they worked and talked. It was comfortable and comforting.

On the third day Tommy had spoken of his pain losing Helen. Barbara had watched him intensely as he spoke and he wondered if she realised she was gently rubbing her leg up and down against his knee. It was reassuring in a way words could not be and when Barbara had spoken so emotionally about how she had been hurt feeling him slipping away, Tommy had rubbed back before they both rested their legs together in mutual solace.

The case yesterday had been more tricky so Tommy and Barbara had decided to act out the possible stabbing action to assess what height the perpetrator was most likely to be. They had stood so close that Tommy had found it hard to concentrate. His feelings had undeniably changed. Instead of stabbing her he had considered kissing her. He imagined a long and slow kiss. He could almost feel it as he thought about it. Then Barbara had kicked him lightly in the shin and told him to stop daydreaming and get on with it so they could finish. The mood had been lost but so had his heart.

Barbara had been annoyed that Lynley was not focused. The course was starting to irritate her and standing so close to Tommy was frustrating and disturbing. She did not want him to stab her. She wanted him to hold her like he had that time years ago. She was not distressed; she simply wanted to feel that warmth and connection from his embrace that their touching legs had hinted might be possible. A swift kick had brought them back to their task. She had no choice, fearing that she might take the lead and hug him which would embarrass them both.

Now the course was almost over Tommy knew he was going to miss been locked up for hours with Barbara. He had flicked her pen to get her attention but she was engrossed in drawing her last lines. He was sitting next to her but swiveled in his chair so that he was facing her. Her sideways glance told him to wait until the lines were drawn. He put his pen down and extended his arm out along the back of her chair. Barbara finished and put the drawing in the file and slapped it down on the desk. "That's the moment we have been waiting for all week!"

Tommy was unconsciously running his fingertips gently up and down on a small section of her back. "Will you have dinner with me tonight when we get back to London?"

From a quick glance at his eyes Barbara could tell he had no idea what his fingers were doing and no idea what that was doing to her. She tried to sound casual. "Yeah but nowhere posh."

"Nowhere posh," he echoed in promise as he raised his eyes to focus on her. Tommy was not sure what he was hoping to see but the fondness and soft desire that was there told him everything. Tommy leant forward and Barbara turned to face him. They continued to look at each other silently agreeing to what was about to happen. Tommy kissed her. It was even sweeter than he had imagined and the tenderness of her response filled him with happiness.

Perhaps she should have been more surprised but Barbara had seen his eyes. This was no longer one-sided. She had seen not only longing but also love. His kiss was gentle but eager and as she kissed him back with equal vigour Barbara knew dinner tonight might need to wait.

The angle was awkward so still kissing her he pulled her to her feet as he sat on the edge of the desk. Her arms locked around his neck. It was a much better stance if he was to spend the next three hours kissing her. Tommy smiled at the thought. He had waited too long for this to waste another second. "I think _this _was the moment we have been waiting for all week."


End file.
